About us
I began developing the town of Tooberville and its inhabitants as a way to help parents teach young athletes the fundamentals of sport in a fun and entertaining way. As a parent of two with experience as a coach of youth soccer, baseball and football, I noticed a few shifts in the dynamics of youth sports as my children began to get older.
First, children are learning to play team sports at a much earlier age than their parents did. Second, many parents tended to expect and at times project the competitive nature of a middle school or high school athletic event into the games of children as young as six and seven years old. I must confess that at times I have been one of those parents - it's easy to get caught up in the competition when you see potential in your child, or as you start to reminisce about the games you played as a youth. Finally, today's children are subjected to 24 hour sports coverage, not all of which trumpets the virtue and purity of athletic competition. More often than not we see the other side of sport on TV - the egos, the preferential treatment, the different set of rules and many times the criminality of today's professional and collegiate athlete.
As adults we need to remember that our children are ALWAYS watching, learning and taking their cues from us. Whether we are parents, coaches, fans or athletes we have a tremendous amount of influence on today's youth. Athletic competition, be it team or individual, teaches many wonderful lessons that eventually find their way into the DNA of the children that participate. Our goal at Spec-Taters.com is to identify the things that are going on in the world of sport and use those incidents, good and bad, as teachable moments for our kids. It is our hope that the kids, coaches and adults of Tooberville can help make these thoughts on sport enjoyable and entertaining for kids of all ages, as well as provide a "neighborhood" where dialogue on how sports, from youth through the pros, is shaping the opinions, personalities and decisions of our children for now and their futures.
Rich Tierney
President
Spec-Taters, Inc.
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